The JLP/AHA Project – Day 5

Yesterday’s entry ended when my computer crashed.  After talking with the Geek Squad and with Dell Support I am up and running again by miracle only as neither of them were able to determine the cause.  In the meantime I have surmised it was a display driver fault and I think my monitor and my graphics card were having a slap-fest.   Obviously I’m back (for the time being).

Dinner last night was delicious.  DC was my Sous-chef and  did a superb job.  Here’s the recipe:

Flank Steak with Asparagus & Mushrooms (serves 4 ) from Sunset’s “Light Ways with Beef, Lamb & Pork” (page 24):

1 1/4 pounds asparagus

1 – 1 1/4 pounds flank steak, trimmed of fat

1 tablespoon cornstarch blended with 1/2 cup of water

1/3 cup dry red wine (it was a small bottle so DC and I finished it off during prep and dinner

1/2 teaspoon each salt and dry tarragon leaves

3 teaspoons olive oil

1/2 pound of mushrooms, thinly sliced

1 small onion, thinly sliced

1 large clove garlic, minced or pressed

1/4 cup regular-strength beef broth

2 to 3 cups hot cooked brown rice

Snap off and discard asparagus ends; cut stalks diagonally into 1/2-inch slices, leaving tips whole.  Cut steak in half lengthwise; then slice each half diagonally into 1/4-inch-thick strips and set aside.  In a small bowl, stir together cornstarch mixture, wine, salt, and tarragon and set aside.

Place asparagus on a rack over 1/2 inch boiling water.  Cover and steam over high heat until bright green and barely tender-crisp (2 to 3 minutes).  Remove asparagus and set aside.

Heat 2 teaspoons of the oil in a wide nonstick frying pan over high heat.  Add steak, about a fourth at a time.  Cook, turning and stirring, just until strips are browned on all sides; lift out strips as they brown and add to asparagus.  Repeat with remaining steak.

Place mushrooms and onion in pan with remaining 1 teaspoon oil.  Cook, stirring, until most of the liquid has evaporated and mushrooms are browned (about 3 minutes).  Add garlic, wine mixture, and beef broth; cook, stirring constantly, until sauce is bubbling and has thickened (about 1 more minute).  Add asparagus and steak, stirring just until heated through (1 to 2 minutes).  Serve with rice.

Tonight I am grilling salmon fillets and serving them with fresh steamed Brussels sprouts and salad.

Eggs Versus “egg beaters®”

Food — 1 Large Egg / egg beaters® (1/4 cup)

Calories — 75 / 30

Total Fat — 0g / 5g

Cholesterol — 0mg / 210mg

Protein —6g / 6g

egg beaters® also contain (I don’t have similar stats for a real egg):

Sodium —  115mg

Potassium — 95mg

Total  Carbohydrate —  1g (Sugars less than 1g)

Over 99% of egg beaters® is egg whites.  The carton has the American Heart Association seal indicating compliance to their guidelines for saturated fat and cholesterol.

One could use just egg whites instead of whole eggs and there are other egg substitutes besides egg beaters® – they just happen to be what I have in my refrigerator.

My AHA cookbook has this to say about eggs (p18):

“One large egg yolk contains about 213 milligrams of cholesterol – almost your entire daily allowance.  For this reason, you’ll want to limit your consumption of egg yolks… Egg yolk consumption includes the yolks you may not be aware you’re consuming (they are in some beverages, in breads, desserts, soufflés, some salads and salad dressings)… Egg whites, on the other hand, contain no fat or cholesterol at all and are a good source of protein.  You can eat as many egg whites as you wish.”

There are more reasons for my doing this project than improving my weight and cholesterol levels.  “the daily WRITER” (by Fred White) emphasizes the need for a writer to create a daily habit of writing, regardless of the intended audience (if one) of what is written.  It provides a topic for each day of the year and a writing exercise.  For example, today is February 19 and the topic is “Archiving”.  The author recommends that I sort through my research papers and such and then create an electronic copies as needed and back them up.   Sometimes I’ll use “The Intellectual Devotional” (Kidder & Oppenheim) as an impetus for writing if I’m not inspired to work on a story I’ve already started.  Today’s topic from that book is Frédéric Chopin.   I did not know that he and George Sand were lovers.

The JLP/AHA Project – Day 4

Pacing & Multi-vitamins

This morning I woke with two issues on my mind.  I realized that yesterday I did not eat lunch and I am sure I missed a couple servings each of fruit and grains.  The meatloaf was very tasty and I gobbled up my third of the loaf.  Did I mention I am cooking for 3 adults?   There’s my partner, “DC”, and our room-mate of many years, who I will refer to as “AJ”.   The recipe I cooked serves 4.  The recipe called for 1 pound of ground meat and I used 1.25 pounds.  I shouldn’t have even eaten a third of the meal, but I did.  What I find humorous in retrospect was that I was even thinking, as the meatloaf baked, I would have leftovers for today.  AJ did but I ate all mine and now I have a bellyache for having done so.  I looked for a 1 pound package of lean ground turkey and they were ALL 1.25 pounds.  All three producers packaged in 1.25 pound portions.  I was frustrated with them at the time.  It was almost as if they knew I did not want to buy that much but they had me at their mercy.

Pacing.  Don’t skip lunches and then overeat at dinner.  For years I’ve had a version of morning sickness that has nothing to do with pregnancy or hangovers.  It is probably my digestive system making me pay for the eating sins of yesterday, even when I thought I was good.  I am rarely hungry in the mornings.  Sometimes I’ll feel like eating something light around 10am.  I usually have to force myself to eat breakfast any earlier than that because I am simply not hungry.  All those sayings, like “Breakfast is the most important meal of the day”, come irritatingly to mind.  I hear my Mother talking “I tried to get a little breakfast into him before he left”.  I am a brunch person.  As a result I tend to eat breakfast very late in the morning and skip lunch.  Sometimes lunch is very late in the afternoon and dinner follows it too closely.  It’s going on 9am here and all I’m in the mood for is coffee mug #2.   Instead I’ll get my ass off the couch and cook an omelet.

That was a very tasty and quick omelet breakfast.  Here’s what I did (cooking for DC and me):

½ cup of Egg-Beaters*

1/8 cup fat-free milk

1 small medium tomato

3 or so ounces of crumbled Feta Cheese

Fresh ground pepper

4 slices of Oscar Mayer Louis Rich Turkey Bacon

2 slices of a large fresh Navel orange

(* I’ll do a Egg discussion later)

While I fixed breakfast I ate an apple.  I whipped up the eggbeaters and milk and chopped up the tomato.  I coated a small frying pan with vegetable non-stick spray and turned on the flame.  I laid out the bacon on a meat drip non-metallic tray and stuck it in the microwave for 3 minutes.  I let the egg coat the bottom of the pan and lifted the edges to let the liquid flow in.  I made sure the egg was not sticking to the pan and dropped in about an ounce of the Feta cheese,  half the chopped tomato and a few grinds of pepper.  Then I flipped half of the egg over to make the omelet and let it cook a little longer.  It was done at about the same time as the bacon was.  I cut the omelet in half and put the remaining Feta cheese, chopped tomato and a pinch more ground pepper on top and served it up with the bacon and orange slice.  I even took a picture of it which I would include if I knew where the software disc is for my digital camera (I got a new desktop PC about a week ago).

It is hard for me to get the recommended daily doses fruits and grains. Perhaps I should have had multi-grain toast with breakfast?  Amazingly that question brings me to multi-vitamins.

If I were to actually eat at least 5 servings of fruits and vegetables daily, 6 servings of grain products and no more than 6 ounces of meal, poultry or fish, would they provide me with all the vitamins and minerals I need on a daily basis?  Perhaps.  Maybe it depends on the mix.  As long as I’m short of those three daily eating goals I should probably take a multi-vitamin.   I have an on-and-off relationship with one called Centrum.  It seemed to be a pretty good all-around multi-vitamin and I haven’t invested any time yet in picking out one that could be better for me personally.

When I had a job I was pretty good about routine.  I would get up early enough to do a short Yoga program each weekday, I took my Centrum and, each evening, I did 20-40 minutes of exercise, either Tai Chi or something called “Turbo Jam”.    My instructors are always smiling and encouraging even when my performance is grumpy and poor.  They live on my DVDs and work according to my schedule.  My daily exercise routine probably helped me maintain my weight.  My eating habits seemed sensible to me until dinnertime.   Now my job is writing and I’m the only one pushing myself to do that.  I don’t have to be at work by 8am or work until at least 6pm.   It is hard for me to be my own boss.  OMG my desktop just crashed!  (I’m doing this on my laptop but was checking email and twitter on my desktop)  My screen went black and the desktop fan came on.  I waited a few minutes and it didn’t stop.  The hard drive light was not on or blinking so I pressed the power button until it shut down.  &*^*&^%&^%#!(&(*&@#$#@

I’ll have to stop blogging for now and deal with it.  Until tomorrow?

The JLP/AHA Project – Day 3

Instant Hot Cereals:

Had a horrible night sleep-wise but I’ve had my coffee and it’s time for me to compare my two instant hot cereals.  I had the Cream of Wheat today.  Planning on an Eat-Beaters Omelet tomorrow.

Instant Hot Cereal  — Cream of Wheat (Original) 28g / Quaker Oatmeal (Apples & Cinnamon) 35g

Calories  —- 100 (Zero from Fat) / 130 (15 from Fat)

Total Fat — 0 grams / 1.5 grams (1.0 Unsaturated)

Cholesterol  — 0 mg / 0 mg (if nothing has Cholesterol why do they bother listing it?  Have you noticed how many products advertise “0 Trans Fat” – they never had it to begin with.  It’s those “hidden” ingredients that get converted into unhealthy stuff that I need to look for)

Sodium — 160 mg / 170 mg

Potassium — 35 mg / 105 mg

Total Carbohydrate — 19g (1g Dietary Fiber, 0g Sugars) / 27g (3g Dietary Fiber*, 12g Sugars)

Protein — 3g / 3g

Vitamins & Minerals (neither have Vitamin C) — 25-40% of RDA / 10-25% of RDA

First Ingredient — Wheat Farina** / Whole grain rolled oats

Second Ingredient — Salt / Sugar

* 1g of which is Soluble Fiber, ** for definition see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farina_%28food%29

Both these cereals have banners splashed all over them.  The Cream of Wheat is vitamin fortified with no sugars.  It has a little heart symbol next to this statement “While many factors affect heart disease, diets low in saturated fat and cholesterol may reduce the risk of this disease”.  My thinking is that you could put that statement on ANY food and the producer just put it there to make it look as if it was officially endorsed.  On the other hand, the Instant Oatmeal has the American Heart Association Logo along with the statement “Meets American Heart Association food criteria for saturated fat and cholesterol for healthy people over age 2.”  The oatmeal is also promoting the fact that it has soluble fiber (“… 3g daily of soluble fiber from oatmeal helps reduce cholesterol …”) and that it has whole grain (“18g or more per serving… Eat 48g or more of whole grains daily”).   The Quaker Instant Apples & Cinnamon Oatmeal  wins the contest as to which is better for me, although I could do a lot worse than picking up the Cream of Wheat.   There is also a “Lower Sugar” version of the oatmeal which I’ll switch to next time.  It has 20 fewer calories, 15 more mg potassium and 5 grams less of carbohydrates because it has 50% less sugar (6g vs. 12g).

Exercise:

For some people exercise is a four-letter word.   There was a time I didn’t even think about exercise.  During the week I worked and studied for long hours and on the weekends I would bicycle-ride, hike, backpack, ski or scuba.  I was fit and trim.  Except I was a smoker.   Then I began to spend a lot of time with people who did not do sports, or exercise regularly.  I started to gain weight.  I joined Jenny Craig.

Back then Jenny Craig had something called “The Jenny Craig Walking Program”,  basically a brochure with two audio-cassettes.  I still have it but I don’t know if I still have a cassette player.  I’ll rummage through my stuff later for one.   The tapes contained timed music with BPM (heart Beats Per Minute) for each selection noted.   You could, and I may, substitute a CD or MP3 for the recorded music while walking.  It wouldn’t be quite the same but it would be something to keep up your pace and duration.  I can still use the program’s guide brochure.  The first thing it says is “It’s always a good idea to check with your physician when beginning an exercise program…”  For the past many years, my physician (whoever he may be) tells me I need to “Eat healthier and exercise more.”  Maybe that constitutes compliance with the note to “check with your physician”.  If I were to take on any exercise more strenuous than walking or golf I suppose I’d talk with my doctor beforehand.   The brochure goes on to answer the question “Why Walk?” Because it’s exercise and “Below are some of the benefits of exercise.

Body weight – burns fat and can help suppress appetite

Cardiovascular conditioning – increases endurance, breathing capacity, and overall aerobic fitness; decreases resting heart rate

Disease prevention – Exercising at least three times a week will decrease your chance of a heart attack by one third,

Life extension – For each hour you exercise, you can live an extra two hours.  By exercising five days per week for an entire year, you could add approximately twenty-two days to your life

Muscular – increase strength of muscles, tendons and ligaments; reduces lower back pain

Skeletal – increases bone density, reducing risk of fractures

Emotional factors – decreases anxiety and stress while increasing self-esteem and relaxation

Blood – reduces bad cholesterol (LDL) and increases good cholesterol (HDL); decreases the body’s need for insulin

Heat sensitivity – increases the ability to tolerate heat through improved sweat mechanisms

Posture – promotes good body alignment and reduces height loss as you age”

I mean we all know regular exercise is good for us (like eating healthy) – then why is it so hard to do?  I don’t have a ready answer for that.  I guess while I’m waiting to come up with one I’ll read my daily “devotional” – actually it’s a few paragraphs about “The Thinker” – yep, Auguste Rodin’s sculpture completed in 1880.  Did you know that “the figure was designed for the Gates of Hell, the portal commissioned by the French Government…” and that “the original sculpture was only twenty-seven inches tall”?   Before I put on my walking shoes (and turn on my MP3 player), I’ll let you know what I have planned for tonight’s meal.

Turkey Dinner:

I defrosted some lean ground turkey with the initial intention of turkey burgers, however, let me check my 3 reference books.  I actually have probably a hundred pounds worth of recipes in different books, shapes, sizes, boxes and so on, but I only have 3 really “bound” cookbooks that focus on eating healthier (low-fat, low-carbohydrate and/or low-cholesterol).   I’ve mentioned two already:  “American Heart Association Low-Fat, Low-Cholesterol cookbook” (AHA cookbook), and the “Weight Watchers take 5: 150 five-ingredient recipes”.  To them I’ll add “Sunset Light Ways with Beef, Lamb & Pork: Delicious & Healthy Recipes Using Lean Cuts”.   Now if I had planned out my meals based on recipes beforehand I’d just be using the AHA cookbook, however…  I have to make do with what I’ve already bought for this week.   There are no ground turkey recipes in the AHA cookbook per se but I should probably be looking under “ground beef” because that’s what it is a substitute for.

Meat Loaf with Roasted Vegetables – Serves 4 (AHA cookbook p157):

1/4 cup plain dry bread crumbs

1/4 cup fat-free milk

Egg-beater equivalent of 1 egg

1/2 pound lean ground beef (90% lean) – I’m using lean ground turkey instead

1/2 pound ground skinless chicken breast – again I’m using lean ground turkey

1/4 cup finely chopped green onions (2-3)

1/4 cup finely chopped celery (unless I can buy some before tonight I’ll omit this)

1/2 teaspoon dried oregano, crumbled

1/4 teaspoon ground sage

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon pepper

4 medium white potatoes, cut into 1-inch chunks (I’m going to put in zucchini part way through the cooking process instead)

4 medium carrots, cut into 1/2 thick slices (I’m substituting the equivalent in baby carrots)

1 medium onion, cut into 8 wedges

Vegetable oil spray

2 tablespoons barbecue sauce

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  In a medium bowl, combine bread crumbs, milk, and egg substitute.  Add beef (turkey), chicken (also turkey LOL), green onions, celery (maybe), oregano, sage, salt and pepper.  Mix well.  In a shallow baking dish or pan, pat the meat mixture into a 7 x 3 x 2-inch loaf.  Arrange vegetables around loaf.  Spray vegetables with vegetable oil spray.  Bake, uncovered, for 1 hour, stirring vegetables once.  When meat is almost done and vegetables are almost tender, warm sauce.  Pat meat loaf and vegetables with a paper towel to remove any grease.  Transfer meat loaf and vegetables to a serving plate.  Spoon barbecue sauce over meat loaf.

Actually, there’s a supermarket within walking distance to me.  I think I’ll pick up some celery, regular carrots and small red potatoes on my way home.

Have a better day!

The JLP/AHA Project – Day 2

I am just starting my 2nd cup of coffee.  Well it’s really a mug, not a cup so I’m getting more like 10 ounces of hot coffee versus 8.  Ten ounces is about the same size as the “Tall Skinny Vanilla Latte” I sometimes order at Starbucks, poured into my own container (which brings the cost down from $3.05 to $2.95).  The coffee I drink at home is Folgers automatic drip.  I have decided to eliminate the Torani Sugar-Free Vanilla Syrup (the only item I buy from Cost Plus World Market) in hopes of saving a few cents.  I do add 2 mountainous teaspoons full of CoffeeMate original non-dairy creamer and 2 semi-rounded teaspoons of Splenda.  I ate a medium banana with my 1st mug of coffee, I’ll have to look up the nutritional information on that next time I’m up (have the laptop on my lap – fancy that! – at the moment).

While drinking my 1st mug I read my daily reading from “The Intellectual Devotional” (by David Kidder and Noah Oppenheim) which is about “The Waste Land” by T.S. Eliot in 1922.  It reminded me of a movie DC and I watched earlier this week called “The Fog of War”, a documentary about Robert Strange McNamara who was the Secretary of Defense under Presidents John Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson.   While I knew the USA dropped some incendiary bombs on Japan before it dropped the atomic ones I did not nearly know the extent of the incendiary bombing and the damage done by it.  Many, many Japanese cities were destroyed by 40-60% – Japanese cities the sizes of Los Angeles, Chicago, New York, Dallas in the mid-1940′s.  Just when you think a country’s military destruction of another can’t get any more deadly… it does.  Wow, I really derailed from my project in this paragraph.

Back to my diet.  Yesterday when I read the Introduction to the “Low-Fat, Low-Cholesterol cookbook” (I’m using the 2nd edition by the way – I’ve had it a few years) I lightly skimmed those sections that dealt with “counting”.  I dislike counting calories, cholesterol, protein, fat, etc.  I just want to be able to eat healthier without doing all that counting and comparing.  A few of the numbers I did take note of are these:

Recommended Daily:

5 servings of fruits & vegetables

6 servings of grains

No more than 6 ounces lean meat, fish or skinless poultry to include 2 servings of fish per week

Include fat-free & low-fat diary and vegetables

Today’s Fruits & Vegies:

It went on to describe other measures that required counting fat and cholesterol but I skipped over them.  As I finished off my banana I wondered what my other 4 servings of fruits & vegetables would be today.  I was coming up short by at least 1 serving.  I wondered if a whole banana is considered 1 serving or 2.  I have baby carrots to snack on and am planning on salad and vegies with dinner tonight. I could have an apple or orange during the day as well but if I do I’ll need to replenish the fruit earlier than I thought.  Banana, carrots, apple, salad, vegies – that’s what I’ll do but I’d better find out if a whole banana – or a whole apple – count as a single serving or a double.

Grains for the Day:

For the first time ever I measured out my breakfast cereal and the milk I put into it.  I’m having a bowl of Grape Nuts: 1/2 cup (58g) cereal, 1/2 cup fat-free milk and 1 heaping teaspoon of Splenda.  Next time I’ll use a level tsp of the sweetener.  According to the cereal box (thank you for pushing me to this AHA) my dietary intake (including the milk and sweetener) will be:

Calories 240 (10 from Fat)

Total Fat 1g (0.5 Polyunsaturated Fat)

Cholesterol 0mg

Sodium 290mg

Potassium 210mg

Total Carbohydrate 48g (Dietary Fiber 7g, Sugars 4g, Other 37g)

Protein 6g

As far as vitamins and minerals it is giving me 90% of my RDA of Iron and 50% of my Folic Acid.  It is also giving me more than 20% of others.  It does not contain any Vitamin C, Zero percent which makes me wonder why they bothered to list it.

According to the Grape Nuts cereal box a serving gives me 33 grams of whole grain and that nutritionists recommend at least 3 servings of whole grain at 16g per serving.  Now, if the Grape Nuts people and the American Heart Association agree a serving is 16g, then the bowl of cereal I just finished gives me 2 servings.  However, the AHA cookbook suggests 6 servings of grains.  Two down, four to go.

I planned on a sandwich for lunch using Oroweat’s Multi-Grain Sandwich Thins.  One sandwich thin has a skinny top and bottom, a Serving Size called a 43g “roll”, that  contains:

Calories 100 (10 from Fat)

Total Fat 1g (less than .5 of any one type)

Cholesterol 0mg

Sodium 230mg

Total Carbohydrate 22g (Dietary Fiber 5g, Sugars 2g)

Protein 5g

Vitamins and minerals provided are few and from 4-8% of the RDA.

Elsewhere on the product packaging I see that it is 11g of whole grain or a bit less than the 16g serving size the Grape Nuts box talks about.

So if I have a Sandwich Thin for lunch I’ll have a total 44g of grain by then.  As 16g per serving times 6 servings is 96g.  That seems like an awful lot and I’ll be way short at this rate.  Maybe I should snack on some crackers this afternoon.  I didn’t buy any special “grainy” crackers at the market yesterday so I’ll rummage the cupboard and see what’s there.  I have three boxes of crackers here already:

Saltine Crackers (16g)    Ritz Crackers (16g)        Wheat Thins* (16g)

Calories             60 (10 from Fat)                80 (40 fr Fat)             70 (23 fr Fat)

Total Fat           1.5g (0.5 Unsaturated)   4.5g (3g Unsat.)    2.5g (2g Unsat.)

Cholesterol       0mg                              0mg                              0mg

Sodium             190mg                          135mg                          115mg

Potassium        nm                                10mg                            30mg

Total Carbs       11g (0 Dietary Fiber)      10g (0 Diet.Fiber)      11g (1 Diet.Fiber)

*Interesting that the Serving Size on the Wheat Thins box is 16 crackers for a total of 31g while the Saltines and Ritz Cracker Serving Size is 5 crackers for a total of 16g.  When I first looked at the Nutritional Information per Serving I was shocked (!) at the large numbers for the Wheat Thins.  Then I saw the serving contained twice the number of grams.

After cutting the statistics in half for the Wheat Thins to make it comparable (16g) to the Saltines and Ritz crackers, I can now tell that my instincts were right and it is the best of the 3 choices.  But what about the grain content?  The Saltines and Ritz crackers don’t have the word “grain” anywhere.  The first ingredient for both the Saltines and Ritz crackers is “Enriched Flour” while for the Wheat Thins it is “Whole Grain Wheat Flour”.   I’m not sure 16g of Wheat Thins is equal to One serving of grain but until I’m enlighted otherwise I’ll go with that. If I have the 32g Serving Size of 16 Wheat Thins that will bring my grain count up to 76.. still short of 96grams (16g * 6).  I think I need to check on how many grams the AHA thinks are in a serving.  The Grape Nuts box had a much lower number, 58g, for recommended daily grain.

Liver and Cholesterol:

The American Heart Association’s “Low-Fat, Low-Cholesterol cookbook”, 2nd Edition, (hereinafter just called “AHA cookbook”) states near the bottom of page 14 that:

“Your body needs some cholesterol in order to function at its best.  Most of the time, your liver manufactures all the cholesterol you need.  The cholesterol in the foods you eat can add to the overall cholesterol level in your system.”

So far all the foods I’ve looked at have no Cholesterol.  In fact that’s one thing I have checked for years when buying food products and I don’t think I’ve ever bought anything that lists a number besides zero to the right of the Cholesterol statistic.  Either my liver is making too much cholesterol, there is “hidden” cholesterol in the ingredients, or a combination of both.  The nutrition and ingredient boxes on packaged foods don’t tell me which of those will become cholesterol once they are in my system.  How am I to know how many milligrams of it I’m going to end up with?

The AHA cookbook recommends you limit yourself to less than 300mg of cholesterol daily – less than 200mg if you are in an at-risk group (borderline high blood cholesterol 200-239 and high risk > 239 – I happen to be in the high risk group).  I have no idea – yet – how to limit my cholesterol to less than 200mg per day.  There are some general guidelines I can follow in the meantime:

• Eat less than 10% of your calories as saturated fat
• Intake less than 2,400mg of sodium daily

To follow that first pointer you need to know what the calories are.  Then you need to figure out how many of them are from saturated fat.  So far the five packaged foods I listed above (Grape Nuts, Sandwich Thins, Saltines, Ritz Crackers and Wheat Thins) tell me how many of the total calories per serving come from fat, but not how many are from saturated fat.

I have to get out my calculator now – something I did NOT want to do!  Okay… over 16% (10/60) of a Saltine’s calories come from fat… but 2/3 of it is saturated fat (1.5 total less 0.5 unsaturated then divided by the 1.5 total) and if my math is right that’s just over 10%.  So… that’s just outside of the AHA guideline.  It’s also a lot of work to figure out.  I’ll do the same for the Wheat Thins just to compare.  Almost 33% (23/70) of a Wheat Thins’ calories are from fat.  That is huge compared to the 16% for the saltine cracker.  But wait!  Of that 33% only 20% of the fat calories are from saturated fat (2.5 total less 2.0 unsaturated divided by the 2.5 total).  Therefore I am figuring that 6.6% of the total calories in a Wheat Thin is from saturated fat and THAT is well within the AHA guideline.  Whew!  I need a less complicated method!  I need guidelines even more generalized than that.

Today I have learned that even the Nutrition Information boxes on packaged foods can be very misleading and that even armed with that data you should keep a calculator handy for comparisons!  Boo!  I think I’ll buy as few prepared and packaged foods as I need to in order to feel like I’m not overly depriving myself of tasty pleasures

Tonight’s Dinner:

Before I went grocery shopping yesterday I took a small beef tri-tip out of the freezer, so that’s what for dinner tonight.  None of the AHA cookbook recipes use a tri-tip.  I would try substituting for flank steak but I bought one yesterday that I divied up into 3 portions of about 9-10 ounces each.  I cook dinner for 3 adults so I’m trying to keep it to about 3 ounces per person.  So, I’m thinking I won’t use the AHA cookbook tonight.  I have a Weight Watchers cookbook so I’ll have a peek into it.  I didn’t find a specific tri-tip steak recipe in that cookbook.  Because I didn’t plan out my menus specifically before I went shopping I’m going to run into this problem of not having the exact ingredients so I’m going to improvise rather than sifting through more than 3 cookbooks for a match.  It’s too late in the day for a marinade so I’m going to do this for 3 servings:

• Grilled tri-tip steak spiced with Goya “Adobo”, McCormick “Montreal Steak” with a bit more ground pepper added, sliced thin for serving

• Salad of pre-packaged and cleaned “Spring Mix” – 3 loose handfuls, plus 3 small palm-fulls each of glazed walnuts, dried cranberries and crumbled Feta cheese tossed with just under 3 tablespoons of light raspberry vinaigrette dressing.

• Steamed fresh cauliflower and broccoli, about a cup per person – sprinkled with grated Parmesan cheese and table spice mix, soft margarine optional.

• One scoop of low-fat frozen chocolate yogurt with a Ghiradelli dark chocolate mint-filled square.  If I had any fresh mint I’d include a sprig of it.

I’ve done more than enough writing about this for today.

Until tomorrow.  Try to be healthy!

The JLP/AHA Project – Day 1

I recently saw the movie “Julie & Julia” which I found thoroughly enjoyable.  I also recently got the lab results from my blood tests.

I won’t reveal much about the movie except that “Julie” is a young aspiring writer named Julie Powell and “Julia” is a seasoned Master of the Art of French Cooking named Julia Child.  There’s a lot to be said about the Julie Powell and Julia Child connection (for lack of a better term) – just check out the results when you Google, Bing or otherwise do a search.  Results may look like this if you Google in Firefox: http://www.google.com/search?q=julie+powell+blog&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a

Onto the results of my blood tests.  Cholesterol is middling-high, no surprise there as it’s been there as long as I can remember.  I do place some blame for it on my family genes.  Liver enzymes are also elevated, which, is not surprising either as they have been elevated for no apparent reason all of my adult life.  What did shock me is, when I compared the liver ALT enzyme levels to last year’s results, they have really shot up.  A few years back my doctor at the time said I have “Non-Alcoholic Steato-Hepatitis” called “N.A.S.H.” – it’s like having a drunk’s liver without having the benefit of the booze.  My days of serious drinking I can count on my hands.  For a more information about NASH check out http://digestive.niddk.nih.gov/ddiseases/pubs/nash/ .   I’m having another blood test in a couple weeks.  It seems that the liver-functioning and cholesterol are related.   This is one reason why my doctors have flipped back and forth over the years when it comes to using cholesterol-reducing medicines.  They can adversely affect the liver.

I already know I should be eating less fatty foods, exercising with more exertion and shed 50 pounds of weight.  As I mentioned, I am a very light drinker (a glass of wine a couple times a month).  I am also a non-smoker.   I have taken regular daily small doses of Yoga, Tai Chi, Aerobics and Pilates.  I have two timed Jenny Craig and Weight Watchers.   I use portion controls like setting half of a restaurant dinner aside for the following day, skipping the fast-food meal deals (no fries or drink), opting for the burger only and then cutting it in half.   It’s not enough.  More precisely, it’s not enough for me.  What I have been doing is not working for my body, the unique way it happens to be constructed and the way it functions.   I hate that what I have been doing is not working to restore my health.  It almost seems that I was healthier then I was a cigarette smoker some 15 years ago!

I am angry about my weight and my poor health and am going to try to turn that angry-energy into something useful.   I sit too much.  I don’t feel like cooking most days of the week so I eat out or fast food it.  The three to four days a week I do cook a meal, it is healthy.  I just haven’t exerted myself with respect to cooking or exercise.   I don’t do either enough or with as much gusto as I need to.

Last week, I dusted off my American Heart Association “Low-Fat, Low-Cholesterol cookbook” and I’m going to plan my daily meals from it for the next seven (7) days.  One day at a time, one week at a time.

Today is Day 1 of the “The JLP/AHA Project” – and yes, I’m leaning on “The Julie/Julia Project” except that our scope and initial primary motivation is different.  I am including cooking and exercise.  I am doing this to improve my health, have more positive energy and live a longer life.  “JLP” stands for me, J. L. Peterson and, as you may have guessed, “AHA” is the abbreviation for the American Heart Association.   After a bit of persuasion, my partner (“DC”) and I read through the book’s Introduction together.   I gave myself some goals for the year, I know I could do the weight part if I apply myself but I’ll need to talk to my doctor about the cholesterol and liver enzyme levels to see if they are achievable.

Goals by December 31, 2010

• Weight under 161 pounds
• Cholesterol under 201
• LDL under 101
• Bilirubin under 1.1
• ALT under 54

It’s now past 3:30pm and DC have nibbled our way through breakfast and not had lunch.  We are starving.  Not a good time to go grocery shopping.   We decided to pull out an IHOP (don’t laugh!) coupon good for weekday meals after 2pm.

Once there, at the International House of Pancakes,  we both ordered breakfast for our dinner.  Did you know that IHOP has a two-egg, two-bacon, hash-browns and toast meal with less than 900 calories?  They actually print the calorie count right next to the meal.  I discovered that not only could you substitute egg-whites (or egg-beaters) for real eggs, you can switch the hash browns out for cottage cheese or tomatoes AND have turkey bacon instead of real bacon.   The discounted price and the food were all good – except my turkey bacon was a bit on the chewy side.  We spent $155 US at the market (some of the items will last longer than a week) and I finished putting the groceries away just after 7:30pm.  Logged on to finish off today’s post.

One day at a time.  Until tomorrow, good night.